What would be better overall for my needs - Dillon 550 or 650?

Status
Not open for further replies.
yeah. confirmed from pic he sent me it does have the collator on top. He said $700 even and not include the .40 cal conversion kit. I stopped loading .40 a while ago and no intention of ever doing it in volume so see no reason I'd want it.

Going to pick it up this weekend. Thanks everyone for the answers & suggestions! It seems for all that, pretty much half of new. Less if they charge tax & shipping for new.

So my next thread of 100 dumb questions will be "how do I set this thing up?" :)
 
CMV said:
I think just to have more realistic expectations, I'm going to stop thinking in rds/hr. Kinda dumb anyway, gonna take as long as it takes to get thru a batch.

Instead maybe times faster. I'll be 3 times as fast on this, 4 times as fast on that.... Or what really matters in time saved.....I can do what was 10 hrs of work in 7 hrs, or 4 hrs or whatever the case may be.
Click to expand...

First of all congrats on your new acquisition now have fun with it.

As I mentioned previously I load on a Lee Pro1000 progressive, I'm vey happy with it and it does what I need as I am not a high volume loader. Even on the Lee I honestly am only doing about 150 or so per hour and that is plenty fast for me. I am not using a progressive for the rounds per hour, I use it to reduce the number of strokes to get that 150 finished rounds done.
 
think most of the numbers you see tossed around are rates.
Fill the primer feed, powder measure, bullet tray, brass feeder, GO. Load 100 in ten minutes = 600 rounds per hour RATE.
Click to expand...

Yeah you can start with picking up fired brass, sorting it, cleaning it, etc. Start with everything ready to go and in 4 min a hundred can be loaded on a decked out 650. It’s also a lot less work than loading say 100 rounds in 10 min on an SD or 550.



That’s a rate of around 1500/hr but then you have to fill everything back up after each 100 and that zero rate puts a big dent in your average.



So all your going to be able to actually load in and hour if you don’t stop will be shy of 1100 rounds.

On the automated machines and Dillion primer filler I can load, casegauge and box 1000 rounds in just under 52 min.
 
I have the XL650 with the case feeder and a bullet feeder. I love it, and can crank out 1,000 rounds in just over an hour at a leisurely pace. After 1,000 rounds however I can usually feel it in my shoulder! Old age!!! :what:

I have 10 primer pickup tubes so I can load up 1,000 primers at a time, and I use the Frankfort Arsenal Vibra-Prime to load the primers into the tubes. Takes just seconds to load each tube and is a real time saver.

I used to deprime before wet tumbling, and then prime off of the press, but realized that it was a total time suck, and now I just load up brass that has been cleaned and sorted, and let the press do the rest.
 
Good job! I knew you would pull through. While we are here, one of the nice things is that some caliber conversions share parts. For example, if you have a 223 kit you can add 300 Blackout by merely adding a dies and a funnel, of course. Remember that 380 ACP that you don't like? Well, with 9mm and 223 in hand you are only a casefeed adapter and a set of dies away from being a 380 ACP convert - or not. ;)
 
I think there is a special place in hell for child molesters and the people who design plastic clamshell retail packaging. In this special section of hell, they must separate dirty 9mm and .380 cases....all of which are jammed upside down into .40SW cases of course.... :)

So going thru & figuring out what I need like extra tool heads, primer pickup tubes (he kept them for his other press), the casefeed plates for the collator, etc. Got large rifle & large pistol plates.....guess that means I need both smalls for 9mm & .223? Just wondering why the same one doesn't do both since the case heads are so similar. My Lee shell plates for example, even though a #4 & #19 exist, they seemed to be able to be used interchangeably for either 9mm or .223.

Was sad to find out the Dillon stuff on Amazon is not "fulfilled by Amazon" or Prime....would be nice to get it all in 2 days :) Wanna play with my new toy.
 
Did a few hundred .223 playing around with it. He didn't give me any primer pickup tubes, so loading them in by hand will make me appreciate them when they arrive :)

Once I got [mostly] everything figured out. worked well. I timed it & with case load hopper full, 100 primers loaded, everything ready to go......100 rds took 14 minutes. A few stops waiting on case loader, lots of picking up bullets I dropped, weighing charges to verify powder drop was staying honest.

So even going real slow & dealing with some hiccups from inexperience, that's about a billion times faster since the brass was clean & decapped, but from sizing to Lee FCD everything done on the press.

Since I don't have the small rifle plate for the case collator yet, figured I'd try the large pistol one I do have. I made a fat washer for it on the lathe, about 2.5 as thick as the one spacer washer I got with everything. It worked....not well, but worked. Pretty much ran nonstop since it missed picking up a lot more than it caught one, but at my reduced speed, it kept up with me.

Lots of little things I still need to tinker with or figure out.

The collator stop switch will hang on the tube and stay depressed, leaving the collator off and allowing case feed tube to empty. Just takes a little flick to reset it, but my eyes were everywhere except there, so never noticed. The collator not cycling back on should be a clue, just something I'm not used to listening for.

The powder alarm, sometimes is beeps, sometimes not. Original owner said it didn't work but probably just needed a battery & missing piece. Changed battery. It was missing the 10-24 threaded piece that goes on end of rod you adjust to contact shell plate as it comes up. Made that piece on lathe too. But a lot of times, the rod just hits the case mouth instead of going down inside the case and just pops the top out of the die. Not too sure about it overall & think a simpler Hornady Powder Cop die might be more my speed.

Occasionally a primer wants to sit high riding between station 1 - 2. That just jams up the press mid stroke. Took me a while to figure out what was causing that - ram wouldn't fully raise on down stroke, but all 5 pieces of brass were free and where they should be. Not sure what is causing that to happen and I don't get it every 16th time indicating one bad position. Only happens maybe 3-4 times per 100, but something is causing it.

I missed a couple primers, just due to feel and this new technique of pushing forward on the handle. 6 strokes before feeding any brass took some figuring out too. Missing a primer is a huge mess everywhere. Sadly it only half empties thru flash hole (H335), so the loaded round bin gets powder everywhere too from it.

Not too sure about the powder drop. Don't know what I was expecting really, but assumed it would be somehow superior to the Lee Pro Auto Disks I use. Seems to be messier and a little more variation. My Pro Auto Disks will drop what they're supposed to or + 1/10, never light. This seems to be - 1/10, dead on, + 1/10. Still within +/- 1/10, but seems there is a bit more variation. Holds a lot more and pretty simple to adjust, so there's that I guess.

Overall really like the press so far and think will absolutely love it once I get more comfortable & get some missing widgets. Definitely much more complex - lot to try to keep up with at once. Will definitely have some learning curve!
 
The collator stop switch will hang on the tube and stay depressed, leaving the collator off and allowing case feed tube to empty. Just takes a little flick to reset it, but my eyes were everywhere except there, so never noticed.
Click to expand...

There is a button head screw that holds it in place on the post, raise it up slightly and lock it down.

While your at it put a magnet on the clamp and you can catch steel cases if they get by your sorting process.

E1FE953B-BC86-4B12-8807-52E77FFEC6EA.jpeg
 
Occasionally a primer wants to sit high riding between station 1 - 2. That just jams up the press mid stroke. Took me a while to figure out what was causing that
Click to expand...

The primer should be in the bucket after sizing/depriming at station 1 and you won’t install another until it gets to #2.

If there is a primer in the case going from 1 to 2, you either didn’t get it poked out or it stuck to to the decapping pin and was stuck back into the pocket.
 
Hard to describe, but not a primer in a case causing it. The wheel where the primers are fed - that's where one seems to ride high occasionally. On it's way to get installed. So as the shell plate is moving carrying the case that just got sized from station #1 to station #2, the high primer is also moving underneath and that jams the press.

The way I'm describing doesn't make sense, since that movement happens on up stroke if I'm remembering right. So the shell plate moves, but also jams in that movement. But don't see the effect until raising the ram on next down stroke and will only go half way then hits resistance. That resistance seems to be coming from a primer that rode a little high between stations 1-2.

Also, since it only happened a few times, I could be way off and there is something else binding it up. It seems that's what it is, but can't be sure. All I know is when it happened it was difficult to clear and seemed like that is what was happening. Could be a primer dropping from the feed tube hanging up and I just think it's the one in that area.
 
Last edited:
CMV said:
I think there is a special place in hell for child molesters and the people who design plastic clamshell retail packaging. In this special section of hell, they must separate dirty 9mm and .380 cases....all of which are jammed upside down into .40SW cases of course.... :)
Click to expand...

Do it like this and you'll save a LOT of time, as well as count your cases the easy way before being dumped into the case feeder....


CMV said:
So going thru & figuring out what I need like extra tool heads, primer pickup tubes (he kept them for his other press), the casefeed plates for the collator, etc.
Click to expand...

• I greatly prefer the colored tool heads from Jofer USA. Click Here

• I've found it's much cleaner to have the spent primers (and all their smut) routed to a sealed container located below the bench. With an empty 5qt oil can, you can reduce your spent primer maintenance to about once a year and reduce your exposure to all the dust. These items all mount using existing fasteners. Remove the Dillon piece, and screw the new part back on in 60 seconds. There are numerous products to do this; here's a link to one.

Hope this helps.
 
I like those toolheads. Guess I need to stop ordering things until I know what alternatives there are. Just been figuring out what I need and ordering from dillon's site
 
rfwobbly said:
Do it like this and you'll save a LOT of time, as well as count your cases the easy way before being dumped into the case feeder....




• I greatly prefer the colored tool heads from Jofer USA. Click Here

• I've found it's much cleaner to have the spent primers (and all their smut) routed to a sealed container located below the bench. With an empty 5qt oil can, you can reduce your spent primer maintenance to about once a year and reduce your exposure to all the dust. These items all mount using existing fasteners. Remove the Dillon piece, and screw the new part back on in 60 seconds. There are numerous products to do this; here's a link to one.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...


I used to sort 9mm .380 that way. But I broke down and paid the $21.95 for the steel .380 plate from ShellSorter.com and could not be happier. It's much faster and a lot more accurate. Since I already use the ShellSorter.com trays to sort my range brass it only adds a very small amount of time to do the 9mm stuff.
 
"Do they make one to sort small and large primer 45acp? "

If you invent one? Welcome to the million dollar idea club -lol
 
I’m currently a red reloader, looking to go blue someday. I’d vote for any progressive that has an automated case feeder. That’s why I’d go for at least the 650. It’s not that I wanted more rounds per hour, but rather I wanted to concentrate on the visual powder check and bullet seating operation.

375supermag said:
I just bought another shell plate to run 10mm on the LnL that is set up for large primer but haven't bought a powder measure for that caliber yet.
Click to expand...
A bit off topic but, you can buy just the lower case activated assembly and a metering insert per caliber, and then move the powder measure upper to each one. I’ve been trying to understand the Dillon equivalent, but I don’t think there’s one, so you’d need a complete powder measure per tool head.
 
Many other case-activated powder measures work fine on the Dillon 650. I use a Lee Auto Drum on mine with a Lee flare die. The measure could come off with the die remaining in place.
 
lordpaxman said:
I’m currently a red reloader, looking to go blue someday. I’d vote for any progressive that has an automated case feeder. That’s why I’d go for at least the 650. It’s not that I wanted more rounds per hour, but rather I wanted to concentrate on the visual powder check and bullet seating operation.


A bit off topic but, you can buy just the lower case activated assembly and a metering insert per caliber, and then move the powder measure upper to each one. I’ve been trying to understand the Dillon equivalent, but I don’t think there’s one, so you’d need a complete powder measure per tool head.
Click to expand...

Not true, all you need is the powder die and the EC quick detach powder measure upgrade. This allows you to move the powder measure in seconds.
 
Texas10mm said:
This allows you to move the powder measure in seconds.
Click to expand...
Oh, I'm getting excited, but.... I should clarify: On the LNL, it's a PTX setup, if I have a match 9mm load session, let's say 147 gr RMR MW and 3.6gr of N320, and then I need to load .45 match loads, say 200gr LSWC and 4.4gr Clays, I swap out the lowers, and the metering inserts that have already been calibrated for their respective powder throws, and the case bells are all spot on since that's controlled by the lower assembly. If I move the Dillon powder measure, would I need to re-calibrate the powder throw?

ATLDave said:
Many other case-activated powder measures work fine on the Dillon 650.
Click to expand...
In my small minded way I was thinking of going totally blue. Magenta works here? I can run my existing Hornady PTX setups on a 650? Sweet!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

D
  • Locked
  • Poll
What's your reloading style? Batch or process?
Replies
12
Views
1K
whofan
W
T
  • Locked
More efficient 223 reloading?
Replies
24
Views
1K
RussellC
R
D
  • Locked
Questioning Progressive Press Productivity for bottle-necked cartridges
Replies
9
Views
476
helotaxi
H
O
  • Locked
Full Length Resizing without Decapping with Lee dies
Replies
13
Views
8K
flashhole
F
Epicurean
  • Locked
Hand priming?
2
Replies
45
Views
2K
.308 Norma
.308 Norma
Back
Top